|  | 1.2 | The Physical Layer of the OSI Reference Model
| 1.2.2 | Three varieties of 10Mbps E thernet
The Ethernet and IEEE 802.3 wiring standards define a bus topology LAN that operates at 10 Mbps. The Figure illustrates the three defined wiring standards: 10BASE2--Known as thin Ethernet, 10BASE2 allows network segments up to 185 meters on coaxial cable. 10BASE5--Known as thick Ethernet, 10BASE5 allows network segments up to 500 meters on coaxial cable. 10BASE-T--10BASE-T carries Ethernet frames on inexpensive twisted-pair wiring. Ethernet and IEEE 802.3 wiring standards specify a bus topology network with a connecting cable between the end stations and the actual network medium. In the case of Ethernet, that cable is called a transceiver cable. The transceiver cable connects to a transceiver device attached to the physical network medium. The IEEE 802.3 configuration is much the same, except that the connecting cable is referred to as an attachment unit interface (AUI), and the transceiver is called a media attachment unit (MAU). In both cases, the connecting cable attaches to an interface board (or interface circuitry) within the end station. Stations are attached to the segment by a cable that runs from an AUI in the station to an MAU that is directly attached to the Ethernet coaxial cable. Because the 10BASE-T standard provides access for a single station only, stations attached to an Ethernet LAN by 10BASE-T are almost always connected to a hub or a LAN switch.
| Web Links
| CSMA/CD
| Spurgeon's Ethernet Site